OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

Saturday, April 28, 2007

MY PINOKO DOESN'T SPEAK - PART 7 -

Well, do you think I should be scared? But the truth is: I’m not. This may sound really stupid, but honestly, I’m excited just like an elementary school kid waiting for the first school trip. I’m not kidding.

Yesterday was the day of my preoperative test. I went through blood test, urine test, chest x-ray, lung function test and ECG.(My doctor forgot to input the request for my tests, so I had to wait for quite a while in the waiting seat before my first test.I’m glad that he is not the doctor who is going to operate on me.)Of course, there was nothing exciting about those tests. The results were all good, which was no surprise to me. I’m basically a terribly healthy individual and test results almost always fall in the middle of the normal range. (My VC was way above average for women.) But the excitement came when the nurse gave me a pamphlet and explained the schedule of my hospital stay. OK, let me share my schedule with you.

I’m supposed to be at the hospital at 9:00 am on May 9th with my family member (mom). Regular meals, no bed rest, no treatment and no tests on that day. The only events scheduled are wearing a wrist band and listening to the explanations by the doctor, nurse and pharmacist. That’s it. Then why is it necessary to be admitted on that day? Can’t all these be done altogether on the day before the surgery? But the schedule of May 10th says “24-hour urine measurement from 6:00 am today to 6:00 am on the following day,” so maybe that’s why I need to be already in the hospital on the 9th. For some reason, the explanation by the anesthesiologist is scheduled on the 10th, not the 9th. And the saddest part is: after 9:00 pm on the May 10th, I will not be allowed to eat anything until the 12th.

On the 11th, the day of the surgery, there’ll be no breakfast, of course. Enema in early morning, followed by a drip. And after some necessary preparations, I’ll have a surgery. (Not sure exactly what time, though.)

To me, the biggest surprise was the schedule for the 12th, the day after the surgery. Looks like I’m supposed to lie on my side in the morning, sit on the bed in the afternoon and start walking later in the afternoon. Already on the day after the surgery?! Hey I’m going to have my stomach cut under general anesthesia, for God’s sake, and they’re telling me to walk on the next day? And it also says “You can take a shower.” Gosh! They say that recovery is quick after a laparoscopic surgery, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS quick. And on the 14th, it says “Leave the hospital.” Just like that, ha?.

So, this almost makes me think that my surgery is a piece of cake. Of course things can go wrong with any type of surgery, and my hospital stay can be extended. But I guess I’m basically an optimist -- I always make a worst-case scenario in mind but then somehow convince myself that “It probably won’t happen to me.” And now I’m thinking about what I can do during my free time at the hospital. I’m definitely going to take photos of the hospital meals so that I can post them on my foodblog. ;)

On the other hand, I’m going to keep myself in the best condition possible before the surgery. Nutritious meals, moderate exercise, enough sleep and no alcohol, right? And, yeah, a major cleaning of my room – that’s what I definitely need to get done before May 9th, because I don’t want to do any cleaning/washing for a couple of days after I come back from the hospital. No problem. It’s "Golden Week" now and I have plenty of time for preparations. (Knocking on wood.)

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER IF WE DIDN'T HAVE THEM AT ALL?

Not long after we heard about the tragedy at Virginia Tech, a mayor was shot to death in a southern prefecture here in this country. He was shot when he came back from campaigning for this coming Sunday’s election, and the murderer was a gangster.

Some will argue that because today’s society is this dangerous, each person should be allowed to protect him/herself with a gun. But… honestly, I can’t help asking this question aloud: ARE GUNS REALLY MAKING A SOCIETY ANY SAFER?

Thursday, April 05, 2007

SPITTING OUT

I don’t want to go into too much details, but I’m just so disgusted that I have to spit this out in order to keep going.

I HATE working with those who constantly lie just to make them look better than what they really are – just to save their asses – and do not care about trampling on others’ feelings for that purpose. It's DISGUSTING!

About Me

"OBACHAN" means a "middle-aged woman" or "aunty" in Japanese.
.*************************. Having moved back to my hometown in April 2009, I live in one of the desperately underpopulated areas in Japan now. Let me share my life in a real countryside with aging parents living in the same house. And here in Muroto -- the place where I chose to live -- you can hear the heartbeat of the Earth! ;)

Template

The contents of this blog created by me (text/comments and photos) are licensed under a Creative Commons License unless otherwise stated. Copyrights of free web graphics used in this site and comments made by others belong to the creators of those works.
Web graphics currently used in this blog are from: Machi.